diff --git a/app/controllers/projects/artifacts_controller.rb b/app/controllers/projects/artifacts_controller.rb
index f11c8321464..7241949393b 100644
--- a/app/controllers/projects/artifacts_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/projects/artifacts_controller.rb
@@ -23,10 +23,9 @@ class Projects::ArtifactsController < Projects::ApplicationController
     entry = build.artifacts_metadata_entry(params[:path])
 
     if entry.exists?
-      render json: { archive: build.artifacts_file.path,
-                     entry: Base64.encode64(entry.path) }
+      send_artifacts_entry(build, entry)
     else
-      render json: {}, status: 404
+      render_404
     end
   end
 
diff --git a/app/helpers/workhorse_helper.rb b/app/helpers/workhorse_helper.rb
index 65598ad9ed3..d887cdadc34 100644
--- a/app/helpers/workhorse_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/workhorse_helper.rb
@@ -28,4 +28,10 @@ module WorkhorseHelper
     headers.store(*Gitlab::Workhorse.send_git_archive(repository, ref: ref, format: format))
     head :ok
   end
+
+  # Send an entry from artifacts through Workhorse
+  def send_artifacts_entry(build, entry)
+    headers.store(*Gitlab::Workhorse.send_artifacts_entry(build, entry))
+    head :ok
+  end
 end
diff --git a/features/steps/project/builds/artifacts.rb b/features/steps/project/builds/artifacts.rb
index 2876e8812e9..b4a32ed2e38 100644
--- a/features/steps/project/builds/artifacts.rb
+++ b/features/steps/project/builds/artifacts.rb
@@ -68,10 +68,16 @@ class Spinach::Features::ProjectBuildsArtifacts < Spinach::FeatureSteps
   end
 
   step 'download of a file extracted from build artifacts should start' do
-    # this will be accelerated by Workhorse
-    response_json = JSON.parse(page.body, symbolize_names: true)
-    expect(response_json[:archive]).to end_with('build_artifacts.zip')
-    expect(response_json[:entry]).to eq Base64.encode64('ci_artifacts.txt')
+    send_data = response_headers[Gitlab::Workhorse::SEND_DATA_HEADER]
+
+    expect(send_data).to start_with('artifacts-entry:')
+
+    base64_params = send_data.sub(/\Aartifacts\-entry:/, '')
+    params = JSON.parse(Base64.urlsafe_decode64(base64_params))
+
+    expect(params.keys).to eq(['Archive', 'Entry'])
+    expect(params['Archive']).to end_with('build_artifacts.zip')
+    expect(params['Entry']).to eq(Base64.encode64('ci_artifacts.txt'))
   end
 
   step 'I click a first row within build artifacts table' do
diff --git a/lib/gitlab/workhorse.rb b/lib/gitlab/workhorse.rb
index bc0193a6c32..6aeb49c0219 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/workhorse.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/workhorse.rb
@@ -63,6 +63,18 @@ module Gitlab
         ]
       end
 
+      def send_artifacts_entry(build, entry)
+        params = {
+          'Archive' => build.artifacts_file.path,
+          'Entry' => Base64.encode64(entry.path)
+        }
+
+        [
+          SEND_DATA_HEADER,
+          "artifacts-entry:#{encode(params)}"
+        ]
+      end
+
       protected
 
       def encode(hash)